The High Aces
by KuroHi91
Summary: Second Life goes global only 3 months after its release in Taiwan! Join Jess and friends as they travel through Second Life. OC's, no pairings. DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1: Advance!

New Story! In collaboration with my friend, we give you: The High Aces! Reviews and Critiques are appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own 1/2 Prince or Second Life.

* * *

I quickly ripped off the wrapping of the box, eager to find out what my brother sent me for my birthday. As I peeled off the last of the decorative paper, I grinned as I saw the title on the box. **SECOND LIFE.** The game that had overtaken the gaming community in its 99% realistic gaming experience had finally come to America only 3 months after its release in Taiwan, and was scheduled to release its global servers today at 8:30. "8:29…" I thought as I looked at the clock and slipped on the newly designed visor console. I lay down on my bed. "Hope it's not too early to try to get on," I thought.

All around me was black, I could feel something under my feet, but couldn't hear, see, smell or feel anything. Suddenly, a bright light flashed and both the ground and ceiling revealed a checkered pattern. "Greetings, welcome to Second Life!" announced a voice. I looked up and saw a boy, around my age, sitting it this weird hover chair. "Congratulations, you are our first player that has signed on via the Global Version of our Second Life helmets! Please wait one moment as we scan your physical features as well as vocal waves." "A NPC? Or a GM? I've heard accounts where a player was led through character creation by a GM instead of a NPC." I thought as two orbs floated next to me and began to scan. I studied the boy; he had short black hair, a surprisingly thin waist, and looked to be around 5 foot 5."Okay, you are now ready to create your character! Remember, you have only one chance to design a character," he said. I nodded my head in understanding as he waved his hand.

Suddenly, another bright light shone and I was surrounded by many types of characters, each a different race. "First, choose a race you like. They are divided into humans, elves, dark elves, dwarfs, celestials, elementals, and beasts," announced the boy. I looked at the various classes. "May I please see myself as a human, dark elf, and angel?" The boy nodded his head and the avatars disappeared from around me, only to be replaced with the three choices I had made standing in front of me.  
My human avatar looked exactly like me. Short, black hair with silver highlights and light brown, almost gold, eyes. She also had my black tribal looking tattoo that extended from my wrist to just below my elbow. Did I mention just how much I hate how I practically had no chest, even in-game? It just made me look even more like a guy, which I AM NOT. I sighed as I looked at the dark elf. "Man, I really do look like a guy, and a pretty decent one at that!" I thought as my eyes scanned over the elf. It had dark skin and jet black hair along with pointed ears. When I took a glance at the angel, I noticed that her hair was pure silver, and not just highlighted. Other than that, they looked almost identical.

I pondered as I couldn't make up my mind from the three. "Please remove the human," I said, and the human version of me disappeared. Suddenly, I had a grand idea. "Would it be possible for me to combine the angel and dark elf into one? Since your game boasts about realism, wouldn't it be possible for an angel to breed with a dark elf?" I looked up at the boy who had a curious look. "Definitely a GM." I thought as he raised an eyebrow. "I think it would be possible. I will contact my superiors with your suggestion and reasoning. Please wait a moment." After a few minutes, the boy spoke again. "Congratulations, since you are our first global player, Second Life has decided to grant your request. You will be the one and only half-angel half- dark elf character in Second Life!" I smiled as a new avatar began to form from the two in front of me. As soon as the formation was complete, I grinned.

What stood before me was a figure with jet black wings, pointed ears, dark skin, and silver hair with black streaks. It had glowing orange eyes and a sharp face structure. The new avatar also retained my tattoo design, something that I probably would have argued about for hours if it wasn't there. "One question. Do I have the ability to hide my wings?" I asked the boy. He smiled, "Of course, since your character is not a full angel, we have developed a special skill that allows you to temporarily store the wings inside your body. However, you can only hide them for a specific amount of time depending on you skill rank, and needs to recharge." I nodded and announced, "Ok, I think that's good. I would like my name to be: BlackShadow. Also, I would like to start out in the Central Continent." The boy nodded and with another wave of his hand, I began to get pulled towards my avatar, falling into another black void.

When I woke up, I found myself sitting in an alley. I stood up and noticed that my new-found wings were getting in the way a bit. "System," I called out. The display popped out in front of me and I looked at my skills. **Hidden Wings: When activated, wings will disappear, being stored in the body. Current Level: 1 MP Cost: 0 Time of Effect: 10 Minutes Cooldown: 5 Minutes **I smiled as I closed the system menu. "Hidden Wings" I announced, and in a a flurry of feathers, my wings disappeared into my body. On my wrist was a clock shaped tattoo, and the needle was slowly moving.

I looked to my left and saw that the alley was just on the outskirts of the beginner town, next to the forest. I made my way through the alley and noticed a few slimes. I grinned as some began to notice me. "Time for some blobs to roll," I said as I quickly dashed toward them, delivering a sharp punch to the nearest one. I easily killed it, and it dropped a pouch and a knife. I quickly picked them up as I turned around and slashed at another slime that tried to sneak behind me with my new knife. Surprisingly, the next slime dropped another knife as well. I picked it up with my other hand and held them in a reverse grip. "Cool," I thought as another wave of slimes rushed towards me. I dashed forward to the closest one and slashed at it with both of my knives in an X-shape. The slime was sent flying back and landed dead. **System Notice: Player BlackShadow has learned new skill: Twin Slash.**

I quickly killed the rest of the slimes for another few minutes. After I had gathered the loot, I went back to the alley I arrived at and sat down ."System," I said. I looked over my stats. I was currently level 10, and my Twin Slashed had leveled up to 5. "Time for job selection, and I know just the one," I mumbled to myself as I stepped out of the alley into town. "KYAAA BISHIEEE!" yelled a girl as she ran towards me. Suddenly, a huge mob of girls began to run towards me as well. Confused and scared, I ran away. After the first few steps I glanced at my wrist and noticed that the tattoo was beginning to fade. "Perfect timing," I thought as my wings began to appear.  
I leaped off the ground and willed my wings to flap, sending me into the air. I heard gasps and screams of girls as I flew away, in the direction of my job advancement quest starter. I landed in a nearby alley and noticed that a red tattoo of a clock was now on my wrist. It was only three quarters of the way till my cooldown was finished, but I wanted to get my job as soon as possible. I peeked from the alley and saw that noone was in the streets, probably trying to calm the spazzing fangirls. "*Sigh* Sometimes I curse my own looks," I thought as I walked into the Thief's Guild.

I quickly accepted the quest from the NPC. "Ten snake skins, pretty easy," I thought as I headed over to the cave where snakes were supposed to spawn. After around half an hour of killing, I managed to get the ten snake skins and got my job. I even managed to level twice, increase my Hidden Wings to level three, and get my Twin Slash to level 8. **System Message: BlackShadow has advanced to Theif. New Skills Obtained: Stealth, Dagger Throw, and Wind Step.** "System," I announced, looking up the descriptions of my new skills.

**Stealth: Makes player hidden from target(s) Only works on monsters. Time of Effect: 3 Minutes Cooldown: 30 Seconds**

**Dagger Throw: Throws dagger at target. Player needs to retrieve item afterwards.**

**Wind Step: Boosts Speed and Agility temporarily. MP Cost: 20 Time of Effect: 10 Minutes Cooldown: 30 Seconds**

I closed the menu and looked into my pouch. I had received a chance item from the job NPC, that was supposed to give me a random item for my class. I reached into it an pulled out...gauntlets? "Wire Blades," I read as I slipped them on and examined their stats and appearance. I noticed that they had large spools embedded in the wrist portion and was also a growing weapon! Score! I made a mental note to look into them a bit more when I had a chance.

I snuck over to the nearest general store to sell some of the spare loot I had found while hunting and noticed that the NPC also sold masks. I had a sudden idea and bought a black mask that hid the top half of my face. I also bought a silver earring and a necklace that was in the shape of a sword. I equipped all of my new accessories. I walked toward the weapons shop this time, and tried to act natural. Luckily, no fangirls ravaged me this time and I continued to buy more equipment that I needed. First, I bought a belt to hold all of my pouches. I also bought a new set of daggers and strapped them to either side of my belt. You can never be too prepared. Lastly, I bought a travel cape as I don't really like hanging around towns for too long and found it to be another way to hide myself.

* * *

After I had finished restocking my potions, I checked the time. It was 6:30 AM in the real world, and time for me to get up. I logged out and woke up in my bed. I slipped off the visor and started to get ready for school. I combed my hair to make it cover my face, and wore some fake glasses. I always knew I had a boyish face, correction, a hot boyish face, and that I acted like a guy. It wasn't on purpose, it was just who I was. However, in an attempt to avoid annoying girls and to live a semi-girly life, I became the quiet, smart, yet easy to talk to girl of our class. Only a few people knew about my real personality. As I walked out of my apartment, I heard a familiar voice call me.

"Yo, Jess!" I turned around and saw my friend Alex jogging up to me. "Sup Alex, did ya get Second Life yet?" I asked, he nodded his head. " Just finished getting my job last night" "Me too." Alex was one of my friends that knew my real personality. I first knew him because he had trained alongside me in boxing and Muay Thai for about two years. Afterwards, we had coincidentally enrolled in the same high school. He has helped me retain my girly facade for almost three years, secretly supporting me from behind. "What's your username?" he asked, walking alongside me. "BlackShadow. Yours?" I replied. "Yuuki. Add me tonight, I'll get some of the others to join us and we can create a party." We arrived at the school and went out separate ways. After school, I met up with my other close friend, Andy. He was sitting on the front steps of the school, drinking some cans of soda.

"Hey Andy, did you get Second Life yet?" I asked, snatching one of his sodas. "Ya, but I still need one more level until I get my job." He tried to take the soda back. "What are you going to be?" I replied, moving the soda away from his reach as I opened it a chugged it down. "Priest..." he said dejectedly, sulking because I took one of his sodas. Alex came up from behind us and asked, "Whats your username?" I tossed Andy a bag of chips as repayment. He immediately brightened up and held up the bag of chips with his right arm. He then got up and posed in a really exaggerated epic pose. "Andy." he declared. Both me and Alex sweat-dropped. "Andy as in your name?" I questioned. "NO!" He turned to us with a serious face and held up three fingers. "It has 3 A's." Alex and I collapsed onto the ground. After a few seconds, I stood up and smacked Andy in the head. "You are an idiot, you know that?" He smiled brightly and replied, "I know."

Later that night, I logged onto Second Life. **System Notice: You have 2 friend requests from: Yuuki and Aaandy**. I accepted both requests, and received a PM from Yuuki. "Meet us outside the Adventurer's Guild." I sent my "Ok" and leaped off the ground, beginning to fly in the direction of the guild. Before I reached the guild, I quickly dove into a nearby alley and hid my wings. I left the alley and started to walk towards the building, careful to hide my face. In front of the colossal structure, stood two tall males. One was a dark elf who had grey, almost dark silver, skin. His eyes were a glowing yellow and his white hair was cut short, barely reaching his shoulders. There was one long strand that was distinguished from the rest. It was tied in a ponytail, flowing over his shoulder and touching the bottom of his chest. The other was a human priest. With jet black hair that was spiked up, he stood very tall, almost 6 feet. He had coal black eyes and wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses. In his hand, he had a staff with rings attached to it. He wore a heavy robe that was adorned in steel studs and chains. I immediately recognized them as Alex and Andy. They were surrounded by many girls, most of them crowding around the dark elf.

Suddenly, the crowd literally exploded and people were sent flying followed by a loud yell. "ARGGGH!" **System Notice: Player Yuuki has killed players: ... **A list of about 10 names came up. **Yuuki has lost 100 Fame.** A tick mark appeared on my forehead. "What the hell are you doing!" I yelled as I ran at Yuuki and delivered a sharp kick to the side of his head. **"-50HP"** read a small display as Yuuki fell to the ground. "OW! Who the..." He looked up at me. "Who the hell are you?" He pointed at me. Another tick mark appeared on my head, but I held back as I crouched in front of him. I lifted my mask a little so that only he could see my face. "Who else but me, idiot?" I said. I replaced my mask and stood up. "Now, would you please add me to the party?"


	2. Chapter 2: BARE Hands!

KuroHi91: So, chapter two is here. I would like to thank my friend for writing this chapter, he is the base for Yuuki's character, thus this is from his point of view.

Yuuki: I'm lazy and easily distracted, so don't have high expectations :P

KuroHi91: Jeeze, have a little faith in yourself. :D

Yuuki: Never! And isn't this chapter one but from a different point of view?

KuroHi91: Ya, but I say it counts as a chapter so it does! Muahahaha! :D

Yuuki: -_-

KuroHi91: Brilliant! Now on with the story! PS: review Responses at the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own ½ Prince or Second Life.

* * *

I exited the boys locker room of the boxing gym; today was a good day of training. I loved boxing, it was what I was most committed to. I began to walk home, my home was right across the street. I quickly stepped through the door and tried to dash to my room. I had almost reached the door when I was pulled back by my mother.

"I told you only two hours at the gym. Its been almost six hours," I checked the time, it was almost nine. I quickly remembered that I was supposed to receive a package today.

I turned to my mother, "Where's my package?"

With a sigh she replied, "What will I do with you? The package is in your room."

I quickly ran in my room and opened the package; Jess had suggested this new game to me. I wasn't too psyched about most games but I trusted Jess's judgement. I lay down on my bed and put on the visor console.

My body stood straight in a dark room a few seconds later lights flashed on in a checkered pattern. The pattern seemed to go on endlessly, even the ground was checkered. I turned in surprise when I heard a voice announce, "Welcome to Second Life."

I looked up to see what seemed to be an NPC. "Be prepared, we are about to scan your physical features as well as your vocal waves." I stood as the orbs began to scan my body.

"You are now ready to begin the creation of your character! I must warn you though you have only one chance to create your character, once you are done your race, name and looks cannot be changed." As I nodded to inform her I understood, lights quickly flashed past me.

I quickly turned to find different races around me. "You are to choose a race first. Races are divided into humans, elves, dark elves, dwarfs, celestials, elementals, and beasts," the girl announced.

There were only two that caught my interest, "May I see myself as a dark elf and a celestial?" The other races disappeared. The celestial looked similar to me except his hair was much longer than mine and his pupils were white.

I looked closely at the dark elf, his skin was almost grey it was more of a dark silver. He had pointed ears and his eyes were yellow. His hair seemed more of my length, barely reaching his shoulders, and was just as white as mine. There was one long strand that was distinguished from the rest. It was tied in a ponytail, flowing over my shoulder and touching the bottom of my chest. I looked at the NPC, "I would like to be the dark elf."

The NPC nodded, "Would you like any changes?" I shook my head. The NPC clapped her hands together and I flew into my character.

Soon, I was falling down a black void. Once I landed I slowly rose and looked around. It seemed so realistic, I could feel the warm summer air along with a calming sweet smell. I took a step forward only to be ambushed by multiple girls chasing someone.

* * *

"**-75 HP." **I jumped up in anger, "What the hell? I was only here for 2 seconds and I was trampled by a bunch of girls!" I heard a guy laughing at me across the street, my anger rose and I ran at him. I punched him in the face, sending him flying away and disappearing in a pillar of light.

**System Notice: Player Yuuki has killed Player Jerkwad, Yuuki has lost 10 fame. **I start stomping away in anger and mumbling to myself, "Freakin' bastard dares to laugh at me."

I continued walking off until I reached a forest. I quickly glance around only to find a small blob, above it a small label read, **"Flesh Eating Slime." **I begin to poke at it and said, "You hardly look dangerous." It suddenly clamped its mouth around my arm, biting with its sharp teeth. I stare at it momentarily. It looks up at me.

"AHHHHHHHH!" I yelled as I quickly start slamming it against the ground and against a tree. Above the slime it repeatedly reads **"-5 HP." **Finally the slime died, leaving behind a pouch.

I picked it up and turn to find a swarm of slimes heading towards me. I sweat-dropped and began to run away. After a few seconds, I quickly stop and scratched my head as I realized something.

"Ah... I took boxing for two years." The wind whistled past me as I stood there dumbstruck. I quickly turn to face the slimes and start punching wildly at them while yelling, "You bastards, making me feel scared when I'm much stronger than you!"

I stood there panting after finishing off the swarm. _"I should probably check my stats. Wait how do I do that?"_ I hear a voice in the background, **Attention New Players: To check your stats, simply say '"System."** I look around in confusion, "Um... System?" A card frame pops up showing my stats along with level and experience. I was now at level 7. I looked around for more mobs until I saw a slime that seemed pretty close, and I began to run towards it.

As I grew closer, the slime seemed to increase in size. It wasn't until I was in front of it that I realized how it towered over me. I looked at the small label above it, **"Flesh Eating Slime King." **I momentarily stared at it and began to slowly step back. It growled and began chasing me. As I ran I started crying, "Why do all these bad things happen to me!" I continued to run until I saw a new swarm of slimes in front of me. I punched with my left arm, sending a wave of power towards the slimes. "Move the hell out of my way!" I yell.

**System Notice: Player Yuuki has learned a new skill: Left Straight. **_"Oh new skill, perfect timing," _I quickly turn to the slime king and yell out, "Left Straight!" Another wave is sent at the slime king, sending it rolling back from the impact. Above it I see the display read, **"-100 HP." **I jumped above the slime king and started punching him and yelling, "That's right you bastard take that! And that! And that!"

**Attention New Players: To defeat a boss you need to use a finishing move.** "Oh ok... Left Straight!" With that attack, the boss fell and lay dead on the ground, disappearing soon after. I looked on the ground where it had been and saw an item. They appeared to be hand wrappings.

I quickly equipped them and noticed that they increased my strength. "System," I said, checking my stats. I noticed that I happened to have reached level 10, the level requirement to get a job. I quickly closed the window and strolled off happily to find a job. I finally reached the place and walked in.

* * *

"Hello traveler, would you like to change your job?" said the NPC at the counter.

"Yes I would," I responded with a grin.

"Would you like to try out our new job class, it is called brawler. It is based off of martial arts, and was released as an add-on when Second Life was released globally."

"Sure, what do I need to do?"

"Just get 10 bear paws."

I accepted the quest and ran off to the forest once again. As I ran through the forest I continued to look around for bears.

"_Where the hell can I find bears?"_

I quickly climb a tree in search of the bears, climbing straight up until I reached the very top. Suddenly, I felt piercing eyes stare at me from afar. A bead of sweat rolled down my head as I slowly looked down, seeing a swarm of bears clawing at the tree. Tears began streaming down my face as I clung onto the tree.

"_Why do I have such bad luck?" _I felt the tree slowly begin to tilt, tilting even further downward every second. It then began to fall, and I jumped off the tree launching myself at the bears. "Bring it on you stupid animals!"

After about an hour of fighting off the bears I stood there panting, but victorious. I quickly collected my loot which included 12 bear paws and a good amount of bronze coins.

I quickly look at the defeated bears and grin, "Looks like I defeated you all with my BARE HANDS." I began to laugh at my awful pun as I walked off to change my job. After changing my job, I exited the game. Looking at the time, I realized it was 5:00 AM.

* * *

I ran down the stairs in a hurry, grabbing a quick breakfast and headed to the boxing gym. I practiced for a little until around 6:30AM. I ran back home in a rush and began to get ready. If I took too long, I would miss my bus. I dashed out the door to the bus stop and saw the bus already leaving.

"God damn it!" I screamed in a rage. I kicked the bus stop pole and looked as my foot began to swell. I started screaming in pain and hopping on one foot. Everyone began to look at me like I was some sort of idiot. I noticed the bus make a stop a couple of streets ahead, I quickly dashed at it.

The bus soon left just when I was only a street behind. I continued to chase it but luck was obviously not on my side as the bus didn't make a second stop. After chasing it for a while I realized I was only a couple streets from the school. I slowed down to a walk and began to catch my breath. As I kept walking I noticed a friend of mine up ahead.

"Yo, Jess!" I jogged towards her as she turned around.

"Sup Alex, did ya get Second Life yet?" I nodded my head.

"Just finished getting my job last night," I responded.

Jess grinned, "Me too."

She began to zone out and think to herself the way she usually does so I asked, "What's your username?"

She seemed to snap out of it and responded, "BlackShadow. Yours?"

"Yuuki. Add me tonight, I'll get some of the others to join us and we can create a party." After making it to school I went to my usual classes, where I fell asleep. I had the tendency to do that even though I wasn't tired. After school, I walked over to Jess and Andy and heard that they were talking about Second Life.

I casually joined in and asked Andy, "What's your Username?"

He stood up and took a strange stance as he plainly said, "Andy."

Jess and I sweat-dropped she then asked, "Andy as in your name?"

He screamed out, "NO!"

He then proceeded to lift three fingers, "It has 3 A's." Jess and I collapsed on the ground. Jess quickly stood and smacked Andy over the head.

"You are an idiot, you know that?" Jess scolded him.

Andy smiled brightly and replied, "I know."

* * *

Shortly after boxing practice, I logged onto Second Life. I sent a friend request to Andy and Jess and PM'ed them to meet me at the Adventurer's guild. I soon realized I had no actual equipment or health potions so I began to wander off looking for a shop. I soon found one but was annoyed at the amount of girls I had attracted.

I tried to ignore them as I began to buy equipment. I bought a leather vest which was very light and drastically increased my speed. Sadly, it was sleeveless and exposed my stomach and chest. I sighed and took it anyways. I felt the ominous presence of the girls behind me which seemed to only anger me further. I bought two rings, one strength ring, which I put onto my right hand, and one speed ring on my left. To a boxer a quick jab with the left and a powerful hook with the right were essential. That reminded me, I had yet to check the stats on my new skills.

I quickly opened up my character sheet, saying, "System."It opened and I read the description for Left Straight.

**Left Straight: A powerful jab with the left hand that sends a wave which can sometimes stun an opponent. Current Level: 4 MP Cost:15**

I scanned my other skills and the descriptions.

**Right Hook: A strong right punch. Current Level: 2 MP Cost:20**

**Uppercut: A punch that attacks an opponent from below. It can sometimes cause confusion. Current Level: 1 MP Cost:10**

I closedmy character sheet and grinned. I stocked up on some potions as Andy messaged me.

"I'm at the guild where are you?" It read.

"On my way, be there in a sec." I responded, and sent the message.

I walked out of the store, forgetting about the girls following close behind, until I finally saw Andy. I felt tick marks begin to form on my head as I saw more girls surrounding him. I recieved a message from Jess saying "Ok" to my previous message.

I walked next to Andy and we both shook hands. The girls started screaming and sending requests, more tick marks began to appear on my forehead.

"ARGGGH!" I screamed as I sent the crowd flying with a Left Straight. **System Notice: Player Yuuki has killed players: ... **I ignored the names. **Yuuki has lost 100 Fame.**

"What the hell are you doing?" I heard someone shout.

I flew to the left as I received a kick in the head.

"**-50 HP"**

"OW! Who the..." I began to yell.

I looked towards the person and pointed, "Who the hell are you?"

The person crouched to my level and lifted the mask they had on. "Who else but me, idiot?"

I realized it was Jess, as she replaced her mask and stood up.

"Now would you please add me to the party?"she asked.

* * *

O to O: I didn't even realize how similar they were! Wow, I guess it subconsciously made its way into the story since I just read it too. Also, I read that in the original artwork for the novel, doll is seen to have wings. I think that it was changed in the Manhuwa. Also, how was this format? Was it more clear?

ummm: Thank you, although you spelled it wrong.


	3. Chapter 3: A Bit Too Far

**Yuuki:**So much hard work... -_-

**KuroHi:** I know right, but it's worth it!

Disclaimer: I do not own ½ Prince or Second Life.

* * *

**Shadow's POV**

We formed our party and made our way to the level 15 monster fields. As a way to gain experience fast, we created a system. First, I would aggro the monsters and lay a web of wires for them using Wire Trap, a new skill I learned. Once they were caught, Yuuki would take them out in close combat with the help of Aaandy. Meanwhile, if some monsters managed to escape, I would use my second skill, Dagger Throw, and take them out from afar. Although I had to sacrifice some time in retrieving my twin daggers, it was a pretty effective strategy.

After around one hour of training, we had all managed to gain around 4 levels. Our current levels were: BlackShadow- 16, Yuuki-16 and Aaandy-14. I managed to keep my wings a secret for the meantime, hiding whenever the time limit was near until the cooling time ended. I didn't want to go through the trouble of explaining why I was an elf with wings. While we were resting, Yuuki noticed something about his weapons.

"Huh? Why do my wrappings look different?" he said. I looked at the bandages around his hands and noticed that they really did look different. They were more new looking, almost like they were even made of some type of metal. Suddenly, the ground began to shake and a huge gust of wind knocked us over.I looked in the direction of the wind and screamed as I saw the giant figure in front of us.

"DRAGON!"

A level 25 dragon was currently rushing towards us, shaking the earth with every step. "Wire Trap!" I exclaimed, creating a web of wires in an attempt to immobilize the dragon. The wires wrapped around the dragons body, but snapped in a matter of seconds.

"Left Straight!" exclaimed Yuuki as he sent a powerful wave of energy towered he dragon. It successfully hit, knocking it back. Above the dragon, a display read, "**-75HP.**"

"Aim for the eyes!" I shouted, as I threw one of my knives at the dragon. "Dagger Throw!" The dragon was quick to react, and blocked it with its wing.

"_We need something like an archer,"_ I thought as I looked around us, trying to figure out a strategy. I was too preoccupied with my thoughts to notice that the dragon was getting closer to us until the last second. _"Shit!"_ I thought as the dragon began to bring its foot down upon us.

"Sonic Arrow!" shouted an unfamiliar voice. A shinning arrow zoomed past me from behind and lodged itself in the dragon's left eye, knocking it backwards.

I quickly turned around to see a human archer, poised and ready for battle. He had golden brown hair that covered one of his orange eyes. He was wearing a layered robe, the bottom layer gold and the top layer black. The black portion was trimmed with gold ribbon and was fastened at the neck with a beige owl pin. He had a matching beret and longbow.

"Add me to your party so we can defeat this thing!" he shouted. Yuuki quickly sent him the invite and we began to battle the dragon.

"Right Hook!" exclaimed Yuuki as he leaped upwards and delivered a critical blow to one of the dragon's wings, shattering the bones.

Using the distraction, I retrieved my second knife and ran under the thrashing dragon.

"Twin Slash!" I shouted, making a deep X-shaped gash on the dragon's stomach.

"Balistia Shot!" shouted the mysterious archer. An arrow surrounded by a whirlwind of fire whizzed past us and bore into the dragon's right shoulder.

Meanwhile Aaandy was using his staff to defend us from any incoming mobs as well as using Medium Healing to heal the team at the same time.

Within minutes we had defeated the dragon. We quickly skinned the dragon and even took some of its meat. Apparently, dragon skin can be used in many high level armor and the meat was very valuable. We picked up 8 gold coins, and a few silver. After we had distributed it equally, we turned to the newest addition to our party.

"Wait, is that you Kenneth?" said Yuuki as he strode to the guy.

"Alex? I mean, yeah it's me, but call me by my in-game name, Hank," Hank stated as he grabbed Alex's hand and shook it.

"Hank here was apart of our Muay Thai class. Remember Shadow? The guy who always low kicked everyone."

"Oh yeah, now I remember!" I exclaimed. Hank looked very different from how I last saw him. In the past he was pretty skinny and average, but now he had a larger, more muscular build.

Yuuki began to chat with Hank. We found out that he had just moved to our neighborhood and was going to go to our school starting tomorrow.

As Yuuki was talking with Hank, I noticed that his wrappings looked different again, they seemed to extend further up his arms. "Hey, Yuuki, could you let me see your weapons?" He held out his arms, and they had in fact changed. I light bulb went off in my head as I realized what type of weapons they were.

"Dude! Do you have any idea what these are? These are evolving weapons!" I exclaimed.

"Evolving weapons?" questioned Yuuki as he tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Evolving weapons are rumored to be a new type of weapon that is not just a growing weapon, but changes its form as it levels. It continues to get stronger as the owner gets stronger. They are supposed to be extremely rare, even rumored to surpass godly weapons!" I explained.

I could literally see question marks coming out of his head as I finished explaining. "*Sigh* Just never EVER loose those wrappings alright?" I concluded. Yuuki nodded his head and went back to talking with Hank.

"Would you like to join our group?" Yuuki asked.

"Sure, I'd love to!" he replied enthusiastically.

"Let's see, we have a thief, brawler, priest, and archer now. I think we should get a mage and a bard now to complete our party." I announced.

"Ok, but what's our team name going to be?" Aaandy asked as he swung his staff, accidentally hitting a level 18 flame slime. The slime became really angry and started to chase Aaandy. Soon, a few more flame slime joined in, chasing Aaandy around our group as we sat down and rested, pondering what we were going to name our team.

"How about The Box Brigade?" suggested Yuuki.

"Why that name?" Hank asked.

"I like boxes."

I smacked Yuuki on the head. "We can think of a team name once we find two more members. For right now, it is almost time for me to wake up. I'm going to log off right now. See you guys later." I signed off and removed the visor.

Once again I got ready for school, changing into my second persona. As I stepped out of the building I ran into Alex again and we walked to school. Apparently, Kenneth was transferring into our class. He had immediately recognized Alex and began chatting with him excessively about Second Life.

I had asked Alex beforehand to keep who I was a secret so that I would not gather unneeded attention. He agreed and refused to answer Kenneth when he asked who exactly BlackShadow was.

Luckily, I looked very different in my school disguise from how I had looked when we were younger. Alex told Kenneth that BlackShadow was one of their old friends from Muay Thai class who moved away. Kenneth soon gave up on trying to get info and instead suggested names for our team to Alex. Later in the day, Alex told me some of the names, but none seemed to stick with us.

Later that day, we signed on to Second Life and to my surprise, Aaandy had found two more members to add to our group. What was even more unexpected was that both of them attended our school as well.

"Hey guys, I'd like to introduce to you Arashi6 and Monte. " Aaandy first motioned towards Arashi6, an elven bard.

Around 5 foot 10, he had a light skin tone, medium length curly brown hair that partially covered his pointed ears and deep red eyes. He looked very agile and thin, but you could tell that he was not weak. A scar ran across his face, from his left to right cheek. He wore an open black dress shirt that exposed his tanned chest, a white bandanna tied around his right bicep, a leather studded belt, black skin-tight jeans, and knee-high leather laced boots. On his back, he had a large black guitar case that had a leather strap strung across his chest. One silver stud earring was on his left ear, and he also wore a silver necklace in the shape of a moon.

Next, Aaandy motioned to Monte, a demon mage. He was dark-skinned, and his eyes gleamed with different colors, his left a bright blue, while his right was a warm chestnut color. Although shadowed by his hood, I could make out a pair of small purple horns, surrounded by straight jet-black hair that framed his triangular shaped face, ending barely touching his shoulders. He was around six feet tall, and had a medium build, not too muscular, but not too skinny. He wore a black cloak that went behind his shoulders. The hood that was attached went over his head and ended in a point. Underneath the cloak, his armor consisted of light chain mail underneath a black leather tunic trimmed with red. For pants, he wore a pair of black cargo pants. In his hands, was a metal staff with a green gem embedded on the top, surrounded by a spiral case. He also had a bronze pendant around his neck shaped like a teardrop.

"Well, now that we have a decent group, we should compete in the Adventurer's tournament that is going to be held today," I suggested, "Since they released global, the Second Life developers decided to have an additional tournament this year."

"How about we all go to the inn to discuss some strategies or hang out in the meantime?" Monte asked. Everyone agreed and we started to walk towards town. When we arrived, we noticed a big crowd around one of the tables. As we came closer, we saw that a few players were having a casual game of poker. All of us besides Aaandy decided to join in. He had left to go compete in a pie eating contest on the other side of the room.

There was only one space available, so we each took turns playing. Monte went first, sitting down at the table as the dealer dealt him his hand. Yuuki stood in the corner with his arms crossed. The rest of us surrounded Monte and watched the game go on. Monte had a bad hand, but was able to bluff his way through the first half of the game. The second half, one of the other players took the chance of taking on Monte's bluff. Monte lost badly, and began to sulk in the corner across from Yuuki.

Next was Arashi as he stepped up to the table. However, he soon lost as badly as Monte. Both Arashi and Monte started sulking in the corner.

"We suck," Arashi said tracing the ground patterns.

"Agreed," Monte replied doing the same. A depressing storm cloud hovered over the duo.

I sighed and sat in the seat. I needed to win the money back. I looked at the cards dealt to me, they seemed pretty good. The other players made their bets, sadly they didn't bet as much as I would have liked. In the end I managed to win with three kings, earning a good portion of our money back.

After me, Hank joined the table, and quickly won us another good sum of money. He was pretty good at bluffing and intimidating his opponents. He had earned back almost all of the money we had invested.

Finally, Yuuki joined the table. He took a seat, looking very nervous. Considering his bad luck, I highly doubted that he would be able to win back even the small amount we had left to earn. When he received his cards he seemed to sulk, seeing his expression, his opponents began to raise their bets as much as they could.

I began to get a bit nervous, hoping that by some miracle, we wouldn't come out broke from this game. Yuuki tried to bluff and followed through with their bets. The other players set down their hands. They were all great cards, and they began fighting amongst each other arguing over who had won.

BANG! Yuuki suddenly slammed his hand on the table. The room went silent as the players turned and looked at him nervously. He lifted his hand to reveal his cards, four aces.

"Alright! I won!" exclaimed Yuuki as he collected all the copper and silver coins. Not only had he earned back our money, he had doubled our funds!

"Wow Yuuki, I can't believe how lucky you are to win with all aces on the first hand. Considering your usual luck, this is a huge surprise," I remarked. The other players began to leave, hanging their heads down in shame.

"I know right!" He put the coins in a pouch, and I quickly snatched it away from him.

"And considering how irresponsible you are with money, I'll be handling our finances." I stored the pouch and looked to the other side of the room. Aaandy had won the pie eating competition.

"And the winner is Aaandy with a total of 200 pies! In second place is Chompy with 15 pies!" said the announcer. Literally everyone in the room sweat-dropped at the huge difference in numbers.

Aaandy was standing on the platform, laughing while he was being handed a pouch of silver. I walked over to him and snatched it, switching it for a leftover pie from one of the other competitors. He quickly forgot about the money as he started to eat the pie.

"Make that 201 pies," corrected the announcer, a look of exasperation on his face.

"Hey guys!" called out Yuuki as he motioned towards us. We walked over to the group.

"What's up?" I asked, Aaandy following close behind.

"I just thought of a name for our team! How about we call ourselves The High Aces?" he exclaimed.

We all thought for a moment, and as we looked upon each other's face, we knew we all had the same opinion. We liked it.

"The High Aces it is!" we all said.

"Guys," interrupted Aaandy, "I'm still hungry."

We all collapsed onto the ground. _"Way to ruin the mood."_ I thought, as I took out a few silver and gave it to Aaandy to buy food with.

After lunch, we made our way to the Adventurer's Guild to register our team name. Afterwards, we made our way to the tournament area. As we signed up, I noticed that we were receiving a lot of stares from girls, and I mean A LOT of girls.

I also noticed a few guys staring at us in envy, probably because they weren't getting enough attention. I sighed as I knew what had caused all of this, our looks. Our team is practically full of bishies!

Without warning, the girls began to swarm around us, and every step we would take, they would follow. Some even attempted to grab onto us, but we managed to dodge their grasps by a fraction of an inch. Yuuki got pretty ticked off at all the crowding, and blew his top off.

"GOD DAMMIT!" he yelled as he punched the ground, creating a giant shock wave that sent many of the girls flying away with hearts in their eyes. **System Notice: Player Yuuki has killed...** Another batch of around 8 names showed up, and Yuuki lost 80 fame. **Player Yuuki has learnt new skill: Mallet Punch.**

I coughed lightly as the smoke cleared, revealing Yuuki surrounded by a giant crater. "Well, that takes care of one problem. Now, I'll go sign us here," I told the others as I left to go register our team into the competition, and drew a team number from a box. _"Let's see, Team 486?" _When I came back to the group, I noticed a few more craters in the ground. I let out a huge sigh as I heard another system message.

**System Notice: Player Yuuki has received a bounty of 500 Silver Coins. Has received alias: "Demon Fist Yuuki"**

"_Greeeeeaaat..."_ I thought as I rolled my eyes. Yuuki was standing there laughing maniacally, he was just asking me to hit him. WHAM! I delivered a sharp punch to the back of Yuuki's head, creating a lump the size of a baseball.

"We really need to teach you social skills," I said as I tossed him a small health potion. "We are Team 486, our match is in 30 minutes, get ready."

Yuuki suddenly became serious, "We need a battle strategy. I will be the close range striker, attacking from the front with Monte as support with defensive earth spells along with some offensive if needed. Hank should be stationed a good distance away, and attack the center with ranged attacks. Shadow, I need you to sneak around and attack from the back. I know it will be risky since you're attacking alone, but we will attempt to keep the opponent distracted. Arashi will protect Aaandy and back us up with ranged attacks. Aaandy of course, will be healing us, but be wary of your surroundings. Both of them will be able to bring up our stats with various buffs as well. Got it?"

I rarely saw Yuuki get serious but when he did, I knew he would always thoroughly think things through. We agreed with the strategy and headed off to our first match. We were matched up with Team Sparrow.

We stood in the tunnel as they announced the teams. "To my right is Team 254 Sparrow!" cheered the announcer. I heard the audience cheer and clap for the team, so I assumed they were either good looking or really popular.

"And to my left, is Team 486 The High Aces!" said the announcer, signaling us to head out. Yuuki and I stepped forward, followed by the others. As we left the shade of the tunnel, the crowd became dead silent.

I remembered hearing about a similar occurrence when Second Life had just come out in Taiwan. Apparently, the leader of Infinite City, Prince, and the Odd Squad had entered the first ever Adventurer's Tournament when they had first formed together. The crowd was said to be so silent that you could hear a pin drop when Prince and his team first came out.

I looked at the other team. They consisted of two male warriors, a female healer, a female archer, and a male mage. I noticed the two girls were staring at us with hearts as eyes. I turned to Yuuki who had multiple tick marks surrounding him, he began to mumble.

"Damn bastards not even one clap, I'll kill them many times over."

"I think they aren't clapping for another reason," I mumbled.

* * *

**Yuuki's POV**

"**Battle Begin," **the announcer yelled. I ran forward in rage followed by Monte, backing me up in my charge. Shadow quickly followed, running behind us in our shadows. An arrow whizzed past us and headed for Aaandy. Luckily, Arashi had blocked it with his guitar case. We quickly stopped at our positions, and realized they had a similar strategy to ours. Two figures rushed out of the enemy's group, a warrior and the mage. The mage quickly revealed his element as he sent a large tsunami towards us. As the tsunami roared towards us, Monte quickly raised a shield of rock. The water slammed around it with a loud crash, and Monte pushed the shield forward, clearing a way.

We both quickly ran behind it, and a bright light surrounded us. I soon felt the buffer spells take effect. I saw Shadow latch onto the shield and understood her plan, I needed to keep the opponent distracted. As soon as she flung herself up, I punched through the shield with a Left Straight. The shield sent a large cloud of dust and left our opponent startled. I quickly located Monte, "Monte, launch me up." He seemed confused but nodded, he raised his foot and stomped on the ground. A huge rock ascended from the ground, throwing me up into the air. I quickly rose above dust and noticed the shadow of the warrior and mage. I was soon out of the dust cloud and saw Shadow hovering next to me, black wings beating rhythmically. I was at first surprised at her appearance but smirked, they suited her.

* * *

**Shadow's POV**

I latched onto the shield of rock as Monte sent it forward. Using the momentum, I flung myself over the wall and into the air. I disabled my Hidden wings, and hovered in the air. I didn't really care about hiding my wings anymore, I even wondered why I hid them in the first place. I heard gasps and squeals from the audience, mostly girls, but ignored them and focused on the match. The wall of earth crumbled with Yuuki's punch, sending a plume of dust swirling around and filling the air.

Soon, I noticed something fly through the cloud heading near me, but as the dust cleared away from the object, I realized that it was Yuuki. He looked at me, at first surprised, but quickly turned serious as he gave me a smirk. The look on his face, a mix of child-like ambition and mischief, made me realized what he was planning. With a smirk in response, I began to race towards him. I released my wires and began to wind and shape them around Yuuki's fist.

* * *

**Yuuki's POV**

Shadow quickly flew at me and began wrapping my fist in wire. I was glad she had realized my plan with just a smirk. The wire soon began to take shape in seconds as we free fell. Her wires began to spin around me at a ridiculous speed. The spinning of the wires made be a bit dizzy, and I felt like puking. However, I shook it off and focused on my opponents.

When Shadow was finally done, I was only a small distance away from the ground. "Spinning Iron Mallet!" I yelled out as I swung my wire-encased fist to the ground, causing the ground to shake from the force of impact and create a giant crater. Several pillars of light flew from the dust cloud.

Shadow unravelled the wires, and I landed back on the ground in a crouch. I tried to stand up but stumbled a bit. It felt like my brain was still spinning. After a few seconds of recovering, I looked around. The entire platform was barren except for me and BlackShadow. I had killed all of our opponents as well as our own teammates.

"Ah... We over did it." I sweat-dropped as Shadow landed next to me.

"Uhh... I think we went a biiiit to far on this one..." Shadow whispered to me as her wings disappeared.

I knew our team mates would be pissed. Heck, I would be pissed too if I were killed by my own teammates. Both the announcer and audience were left speechless.

"Umm... Do we win?" said Shadow as she waved to the announcer.

The announcer snapped out of his trance and yelled, "T- Team 486, The H-High Aces have won!"


End file.
